Itad have supported the development of a sector-wide Theory of Change (ToC) for the mine action sector as part of a joint effort by the Dutch Mine Action and Cluster Munition Programme (MACMP) and the UK Global Mine Action Programme (GMAP).
The primary purpose of the ToC is to encourage collective responsibility of all stakeholders (donors, implementers and national authorities) for achieving mine action outcomes and for maximising the sector’s success.
It aims to encourage strategic thinking across the sector, and to introduce shared indicators that can help measure whether the sector is collectively achieving its objectives.
Introducing the Mine Action Sector-Wide Theory of Change Guide and Toolkit
Developing a shared ToC helps align the objectives of different stakeholders across the sector for greater collective impact. It is also important for aligning indicators between different programmes to ease the reporting burden on implementers, and improve the sector’s ability to share, aggregate and compare data – to better use its available evidence base.
The sector-wide ToC is intended to offer a number of key benefits to the mine action sector, including:
- Alignment of stakeholders around common objectives
- Increased collective responsibility for the delivery of those objectives
- Ability to distinguish between ‘theory failure’ and ‘implementation failure’ for learning and accountability
- Informing of common indicators, streamlining reporting and making better use of evidence across the sector.
The ToC guide and toolkit can be used by:
- National mine action authorities, as a coordination and management tool, identifying where the critical interdependencies are between activities and stakeholders inside and outside the mine action sector
- Donors, as a tool to inform programme design, partnerships, and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) systems, supporting the alignment of strategic objectives with those of national authorities and leveraging of collaboration and coordination
- Implementing partners, as a design and MEL tool; and by identifying interdependencies with other stakeholders where coordination and collaboration is needed and enhancing understanding how their specific work contributes to the success of the sector.
ToC Guide and Toolkit
To support the implementation of the sector-wide ToC, a ToC Guide and Toolkit has been developed. It is centred around the sector-wide ToC, and is accompanied by the set of supporting Theories of Action (ToAs) covering all the pillars of mine action, and an indicator bank to help translate the ToC into a results framework to support collective monitoring of results.
The guide and toolkit enables the global theory of change to be adapted and applied in diverse country contexts. It has been widely consulted on globally and has been piloted to greater or lesser extents with national authorities, donors and mine action implementers in Angola, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya, and Ukraine.
The toolkit is considered a living document for the use and ownership by the entire mine action sector and should be updated on a periodic basis.
Download:
Theory of Change User Guide and Toolkit – English
Theory of Change User Guide and Toolkit – Portuguese
Theory of Change User Guide and Toolkit – Arabic
Theory of Change – Indicator Bank
The ToC is supported by a set of Theories of Action which help implementers see where their specific interventions contribute to the ToC outcomes; and a bank of indicators to provide a consistent way of reporting against the ToC, and to track progress at the programme, country and global levels.
